Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Dublin – Against the Grain

    Dublin – Against the Grain

    There isn’t really a vast amount of different options for craft beer drinkers in Dublin, although the situation is rapidly improving with bars such as Brewdog opening up. One chain that came up was the Galway Bay Brewery which was established in 2009 and has a number of locations around the Republic of Ireland which are proud to sell craft beer. It was a bit of a walk to go and visit it, but I thought that it would likely be worth it.

    We arrived on a Friday evening and it wasn’t clear if we’d be able to get in given the number of people out in Dublin, but a friendly member of staff at the door offered a warm welcome and found a table for us. They complied with all of the health requirements and scanned my NHS app to show I’d been double vaccinated.

    In short, this is an exceptionally well run pub which is beautifully on-trend as far as I’m concerned. The beer menu is on chalkboards above the bar and also available by using QR codes on the table. The staff members were efficient, knowledgeable and personable, making for a comfortable visit.

    I couldn’t decide which beer to have, so I had three, as that’s the most sensible option when I’m not sure what to do. From right to left, these are the Buried at Sea from Galway Bay Brewery (who also own the pub), the Of Foam and Fury from the same brewery and the Nitro Stout from Bru Brewery who have apparently gone out of business over the last few weeks. The Of Foam and Fury was of particular note, an 8.5% DIPA with a variety of hops which had a real body to it and plenty of flavour.

    The vibe inside the pub felt inviting, with a sense of atmosphere without the feel that there might soon be a riot. The pub is well reviewed and also serves food, which we would have likely been tempted by if we hadn’t just visited the Brazen Head. I noted one of the few negative reviews which said:

    “Apparently asking for a Corona for my wife is against his morals or something. I work in a micro brewery, people like him give craft a bad name #snowflake”

    It’s handy when people put snowflake at the end of their review, as I can then immediately identify where the problem lies without needing to know anything more. We were so pleased (by this I think I mean that I was so pleased, and Liam didn’t disagree to save time) by this visit that we sought out a couple more bars in the chain, more of which in later posts. Very pleased with this visit and there were plenty of staff around for customers who wanted to order more drinks.

  • Dublin – Dublin Zoo

    Dublin – Dublin Zoo

    And another post of mostly photos….. I have been to Dublin Zoo before, but it was years ago and I’ve forgotten most of it. We pre-purchased tickets on-line so that Liam and I could explore the site and were a little disappointed to find out on arrival that all of the indoor areas were closed. That meant no snakes….

    There’s a one-way system in place around the zoo so it isn’t possible to double back at all to see any animals that might initially be hiding. Liam and I were getting pre-annoyed at this (well, I was, Liam seems to be nearly impossible to annoy) as I was thinking we might have paid an admission fee to see a pheasant, a zebra and a cow. I accept that zebras are lovely, but I wanted some variety to the proceedings.

    Fortunately, we weren’t disappointed and it took us three hours to meander around the zoo’s sort of clearly laid out one-way system. There was very little we felt that we didn’t see, just snakes and the hippos, but that’s not bad in the circumstances. The highlights were the gorilla sitting just a short distance away, the wolf that I think liked me (I wanted to keep him) and the chimps that were playing on their island. There were also lots of light decorations around the park which must have cost a fortune, but added to the spectacle somewhat and would look spectacular at night.

    So, a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours and we were pleased that we went. The zoo does lots for conservation and they’re proud of their work, which is described on numerous boards around the site. The one-way system was just slightly confusing in places, but not so much as to become annoying. The zoo seemed to have balanced quite well having sufficient visitors to make money whilst not overloading the park making it difficult to see anything.

  • Dublin – Mulligan’s

    Dublin – Mulligan’s

    I visited this pub a few years ago, but I thought that Liam would want to visit one of the most traditional pubs in Dublin this weekend. We tried to get into this pub on the Saturday evening, but they were full, so we visited on Sunday afternoon and we managed to be the first customers in for the day.

    Not quite as atmospheric as the previous evening when the pub was full, but the barman was welcoming and conversational, so it all felt inviting. The barman scanned our NHS Covid passes successfully and mentioned that this was changing soon as the rules in Ireland are being relaxed next week. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, there’s something quite convenient for customers in being welcomed at the entrance though…..

    Lots of heritage here and once frequented by James Joyce, the pub has been at this Poolbeg Street location since 1854, although it has been expanded a couple of times. There’s no television or other modern distractions, although the pub does now take credit and debit cards, so there’s some progress. As for modernisation, there’s no point moving towards the craft beer market and on-trend interiors, this is a pub which is based on Guinness, conversation and crisps. OK, perhaps not the crisps, but they do sell them and I think that’s pretty much the only food offering here.

    We went for a pint of Guinness each, which was reasonably priced, was at the appropriate temperature and tasted just as it should. The reviews on-line are all generally very positive, mostly mentioning the engaging service, the quality of the Guinness and the heritage of the surroundings. There have only ever been four 1-star ratings on TripAdvisor for this pub and two of them relate to a different venue with the same name, showing just how bloody useless that web-site is…. Anyway all really rather lovely and I can see why John F Kennedy is said to have enjoyed his visit here and I like the thought of him walking towards the bar.

  • Dublin – The Brazen Head

    Dublin – The Brazen Head

    I’ve never been to this Dublin pub before in my past visits to the city, which the owners claim is the oldest in the country. The claims that it has been a pub since 1198 are quite fanciful, but these have at least definitely been licensed premises since the mid-seventeenth century. There’s more information about the pub and its history on Wikipedia, which is probably as good an introductory resource as any other on this matter.

    The pub is very well reviewed on-line and so Liam and I decided to go there after our little visit to the Guinness Storehouse, as even if the oldest pub claim is questionable, there’s still plenty of heritage here.

    There are lots of banknotes attached to the pillars and ceiling, mostly American, and I can see why this atmosphere appeals to those from the United States (not least because it appeals to me).

    Slightly dark, cluttered and packed with atmosphere, even on a Friday afternoon. Nice, there was no shortage of traditional Irish pub feel here, suitable for locals and visitors. It was also a sizeable pub, so although it was busy internally and externally, it’s worth turning up to try and get a table. The pub doesn’t take bookings for group sizes of under four, so we did as they suggested and just turned up. We were taken to a seat in front of the bar by a friendly man at the main door (who was a staff member, I realise that might sound like a random person just pointed us towards a table), it was suitable for our needs and I liked that I could easily see the options at the bar. We didn’t have to wait outside at all, although there was a queue by the time that we were leaving.

    We had looked at the menu on-line in advance (which was very efficient of us), so we were ready with our orders. The staff in the pub were friendly and engaging throughout, it was a welcome and comfortable environment.

    The pub had some beers by Rye River Brewing and although the beer list we were given didn’t mention a stout from this brewery, I asked about it as I could see it on the bar. The staff member checked for me and they did indeed have this Eventide Irish Stout, which was new on in the pub and seems also to be something recent for the brewery itself as I was only the ninth person to add it on Untappd. It was a decent beer, a little creamier than Guinness, although that was available as well for the customers who wanted it.

    I went for the fish and chips, with that smear of peas looking slightly odd perhaps. However, looks are deceptive, they were some of the best tasting peas that I’ve had, with the chips being rather delicious, firm on the exterior and fluffy inside. The fish had a rich tasting batter and the fish itself was appropriately cooked and the tartare sauce was I think homemade. I should probably dwell on those peas though, my food knowledge isn’t good enough to know what they’ve done to make them so moreish…..

    Liam’s sausage and mash, which he said was also really rather lovely. The cuisine here is certainly above average and there were no shortage of other customers ordering food, with everything brought out promptly.

    I’m not normally a dessert person, but we felt that we deserved a little treat and so we had a Baileys cheesecake each, served with compote and ice cream. The pub only serves two different desserts and they were both tempting options, with the other being a chocolate fudge cake.

    I looked through the reviews, which are some of the best for any pub in the city, and I liked the:

    “Complained and mentioned that we were not tourists and stressed that the chef must be informed”.

    I’m not sure that the chef was informed…. I mention this as I thought it was evident during our visit that tourists and locals were treated the same way. Although another review was posted which said “The staff is rude….they hate Americans” which seems unlikely to be true….

    “After a long day on excursions, we came across this pub. The place was packed!!!!! We tried to go in and wait for a table (which you do by yourself, with no help from a host or anything…)”

    This 1/5 review was posted by an American in early March 2020, just before the crisis started to unfold. It’s interesting as there is compulsory table service in Dublin at the moment, which makes things much easier at busy pubs such as this for the reason that this reviewer alluded to. I rather hope that some form of helping customers to find a table is maintained to some degree in the future across the hospitality industry. Another review said:

    “We were shocked that after singing together some Irish and Scottish folk songs, one of our party when going to bar again was told none of our party were getting served again. It seems sing-songs are not liked or permitted in this bar”.

    Good, I like the pub even more now. Otherwise, reviews are pretty standard, but there are a few claiming that the staff were hateful that I somewhat suspect was the Irish humour that has been misinterpreted by the individual….

    The prices weren’t the cheapest, but this was an excellent visit and met our expectations. I liked the environment, the service and the food and drink, with the historical atmosphere adding positively to the whole arrangement. I’d definitely go back again, although I imagine that this pub can often get very busy, and we were suitably pleased with our choice.

  • Dublin – 16 and 41 Buses from Dublin Airport to the City Centre

    Dublin – 16 and 41 Buses from Dublin Airport to the City Centre

    Firstly, for those who are quite decadent there are the premium services offered by Dublin Express and Aircoach which take passengers from the airport to the city centre, and to other locations, quickly and efficiently. However, for the rest of us, there are local bus services which are more affordably priced. These can be reached by leaving the front of Terminal 1 and then walking through the car park, ignoring the signs for the more expensive coaches.

    The only problem is that the service only takes coins and not notes or cards. In years gone by I’ve managed to buy a ticket via a machine at the bus stop in Dublin, but that’s now turned off. Fortunately, I had enough Euro coins for Liam and I to ensure that we could get on, but we didn’t have enough for the journey back. It seems that the Dublin transport authorities know that their payment options are some of the worst in modern European cities and the whole process is going to be modernised over the next couple of years. The current set-up really isn’t ideal…..

    The bus driver was friendly and we positioned ourselves at the back of the coach into the city centre, which took around 45 minutes. It’s not the quickest option, but it is the cheapest at €3.30 each for a single journey, with the coach being clean. It didn’t get that busy and so remained comfortable.

    And that’s the bus leaving O’Connell Street after it got us into the centre quickly….. Buying tickets really does need improving, at the moment for tourists there’s only the option of cash (coins only, no notes with no change being provided) or a Leap Card, which it is expected will be phased out over the next decade.

    As an aside, we didn’t want to buy a Leap Card for the journey back, as that’s quite expensive for a single use, nor was it going to be easy to get my €10 note changed into coins to use on the bus. So we walked the 4.5 miles to the airport hotel the night before our flight…..

  • Heathrow T5 (BA Galleries South Lounge in October 2021)

    Heathrow T5 (BA Galleries South Lounge in October 2021)

    I’m now back from my weekend trip to Dublin with Liam, leaving me with quite a backlog of posts to get through. How my excited audience must be positively radiant with joy and anticipation…… Above is Heathrow Terminal T5, the home of British Airways, where we departed from last Thursday.

    The view of the terminal building, which was all a little more exciting this time as Liam spent five years here as part of the construction team who worked on this complex. That the terminal is still there is testament to his competence.

    Before the flight, we went to the south lounges at the terminal, which were moderately busy. The ordering process has changed since my last visit to the lounge in August 2021, with food still being ordered by the app, but self-service has returned for all drinks. We noticed a few customers struggling to order via the app, sometimes because they didn’t have a smartphone and sometimes it seems because they were just getting muddled up.

    I was delighted to see that British Airways are now offering more than Heineken, which is far as I’m concerned a bland and generic beer with no logical connection to the airline. This is the Jet Stream beer, a perfectly decent option which follows on from the partnership with the brewery which last year delivered Speedbird.

    Liam played soup roulette as he didn’t know what it was when he ordered it, but it turned out to be lentil which was apparently all perfectly good. I’m pleased to note that Liam also liked the Brewdog beer, which might be evident from the cans in the photo. I did have a look for the flavoured vodkas that I enjoyed last time, but they seem to have disappeared. We had a little Baileys each instead for some decadence….

    I ordered a starter of sandwiches, which are the standard British Airways options of tuna, Coronation chicken and egg,

    The main course of chicken tagine with bulgur wheat, the kind of dish that I think British Airways do very well. It is difficult to provide food options that cater to both short haul and long haul passengers which also don’t cost the airline too much.

    I ordered carrot cake and I’m not sure that this is carrot cake, but it was rather lovely anyway. I did note that the crisps have disappeared from the lounge over the last year, I hope that they make a return. I accept that there’s more to life than crisps, but nonetheless..

    This was another very acceptable visit, with the staff being friendly and polite. The environment was clean and although the food sometimes took a little while to arrive the service was always helpful. Normality seems to be returning quite quickly now to the airport in general and I suspect that the food service will become self-service soon enough.

    It was then just a short walk to the bus gates for our flight to Dublin…..

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Dublin)

    British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Dublin)

    A couple of days ago, my friend Liam and I headed off from Heathrow T5 to the delights of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. More on the lounge in another visit though, which all went well.

    The gate was called relatively late and it wasn’t particularly well organised when we got there. A staff member apologised and said that she was the only one at the check-in desks and that she hadn’t had to do that before without assistance, with everything moving quite slowly as a result. The boarding by groups was also abandoned which caused a fair amount of confusion judging by other customers trying to cut the line without realising that there wasn’t another line to cut into. The situation wasn’t ideal, it all felt a bit more Ryanair than anything else.

    And joy of joys, a bus gate…. The aircraft driver (excuse the Inbetweeners reference) later mentioned that this wasn’t ideal, but that it was quicker to use buses than to get the aircraft towed to a gate.

    We were on the second of the three coaches which took us not very far away at all in order to board. The journey to the aircraft was short and the coaches weren’t crammed full.

    Of little relevance to anything, but this is G-EUYR. the Airbus A320 which I flew on last year to get to Warsaw. There was a friendly welcome from the crew when boarding and every customer was handed a wipe so they could clean their seat area to their heart’s content. Masks were compulsory throughout the entire flight unless eating or drinking, which I didn’t see being enforced (I mean the masks situation, not enforcing the eating), but it was honoured in the main anyway.

    I kindly let Liam have the window seat on what transpired to be a full flight. The boarding process was delayed for around fifteen minutes as the crew were struggling to get all of the bags to fit in the overhead lockers. The airline has made huge efforts to reduce the number of customers putting bags in the hold, meaning that the cabin bag capacity is effectively exceeded. We were seated in emergency exit row seats and so couldn’t put bags on the floor under the seats, but the crew were telling those with smaller bags they must move them onto the floor to make way for the bigger bags. This simply means that customers wanting to ensure they have floor space are advised to bring big bags, which isn’t ideal. There was the usual debacle of some customers not entirely understanding that if their bag is bigger than the hole they’re trying to put it in, then it won’t go in. Fortunately, the crew were being pro-active and resolving such little problems quite promptly.

    Anyway, bags aside, the crew and pilot announcements were friendly and welcoming, although I understand from the news this week that BA are moving away from the welcome the pilot offered of “welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls”. There’s now a free snack and water provided on the flight, which was perfectly satisfactory for a journey of less than an hour.

    The disembarkation process was handled well, with customers asked to remain seated until their row was called by the crew members. That did make for a more peaceful and calm way of leaving the aircraft, although I suspect it’ll be abandoned once this health crisis is out of the way.

    The aircraft after landing at Dublin and it’s rare for me to be able to get photos of British Airways aircraft like this as there are usually air bridges to walk across to the main terminal building. The pilot had made up some of the time lost at Heathrow which meant that we landed only around five minutes behind schedule.

    Here we are safely in Dublin with no documentation checks for immunisation, although some of that process might have been automated. It took just a few minutes to get from the aircraft to the outside of the terminal building, all very efficient. After Avios adjustments and the like, this single flight cost me around £20, which I think is excellent value given that they also funded my lounge visit as well.

  • Burger King – Burger Roulette

    Burger King – Burger Roulette

    Back to my entirely random posts again….

    I saw this stupid promotion a few weeks ago and meant to check review sites to see if it worked out. The idea behind it was that customers could go into Burger King and get a random burger for £2. There were very clear warnings all over the Burger King web-site that this wasn’t suitable for vegans, vegetarians, anyone with an allergy, anyone who didn’t eat bacon, anyone who hates halloumi and so on. Realistically, that’s a huge number of people ruled out of the entire promotion.

    I thought initially that users of the app could see what random burger they would receive before committing to purchase it, which I thought was quite clever before I went to the web-site to read more. Burger King has had to add to their web-site policies explaining that customers cannot refund these burgers or request any changes. If you don’t like it, the burger has to be binned which doesn’t strike me as the most environmentally friendly option.

    Anyway, I’ve gone to look at the reviews and I can’t find a single positive one (and I’ve scrolled through a lot of pages other than the pointless press releases they dumped out at the start of the campaign. I’ve found tens of negative ones though. This one probably sums the whole thing up:

    “Burger Roulette is a fake game.
    1. Every time I try, I get the same burger… NO surprise, NO roulette
    2. They never show you the result in front of you.
    3. The roulette is not transparent and kind of cheating roulette.
    4. ALL roulette MUST reveal and show to customer in front.
    This is fake roulette, at least I never seen any fair roulette in front of me!”

    How on earth this was Burger King’s big idea of the summer I’ll never quite know. Perhaps people loved the concept very secretly. Anyway, random post over.

  • Norwich – Redwell Brewing

    Norwich – Redwell Brewing

    As the sign handily indicates, I booked a table for four people to go to Redwells, located in railway arches between the village of Trowse and the decadent offices of Norfolk County Council. It’s good to support a local brewery, although I’ve rather lost track of their financial issues, staffing changes and the like that have been reported in the local press.

    The entrance would be slightly more impressive without the cars, but the signage is pretty clear to guide customers in.

    This is a working brewery, with the brew tap type arrangement open on Fridays to Sundays.

    The beer choices were all from Redwell, with no guest options available. I can’t say that there was anything sensationally good and there were a limited number of different beer styles available, but the West Coast Pale was definitely above average and I’d willingly have that again.

    There were two food options, the pizzas which I think are always here, along with the rotating extra food option from Namaste which is a local vegetarian Indian restaurant that I quite like. I’m not sure how financially useful these pop-up arrangements are for companies such as Namaste as Redwells wasn’t that busy, but I suppose it’s good advertising and decent promotion for them.

    I went with the Indian option, although I know from past experience that the pizza options really are beautifully decadent too.

    I decided to go for the Maharaja Combo Meal, with a samosa, chilli cauliflower gobi, chana masala and rice. I have to say that it was really rather lovely, even the cauliflower tasted decent. A richness of flavours and a reminder that vegetarian food can be absolutely delicious.

    And here’s the brewery set-up at the rear. There’s plenty of inside seating, although it’s best to book this in advance, with outside seating as well during the warmer months of the year. Beer ordering was either at the bar or using the app, and although the others in our group went to the bar, I was quite content using the app and not having to walk anywhere.

    In an ideal world there would have been a decadent dark beer for me, but the environment was clean, the service was always polite, the company was charming (especially mine) and I enjoyed the food. A rather lovely experience and I’ll keep a little eye out for whatever food outlets will be making an appearance here.

  • Norwich – Norwich Cathedral (Dippy Visit)

    Norwich – Norwich Cathedral (Dippy Visit)

    As I’m back in Norwich, I thought I’d take the opportunity to go and see Dippy at Norwich Cathedral before he (or she) departs on the end of its tour of the provinces. The cathedral has clearly put a huge amount of effort into this whole arrangement and there are what seemed like endless amounts of volunteers, who all seemed happy, engaged and content. Rather like Rochester Cathedral and its golf course, I think it’s a clever way of getting families in to see the building as well as Dippy.

    The usual entrance to the cathedral has been closed for the moment, from its rather decadent entry near the front of the building to a slightly hard to find (well, for someone who isn’t local) entrance around the side. There is signage, but I was slightly puzzled why they had moved away from their recently professionally constructed entrance to guide people through the cloisters.

    After navigating around a bit, here we are in the aisle of the cathedral. The whole thing is just a copy of the original which is located at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, which was annoyingly shut when I went to the city. I’ll go back one day as I liked Pittsburgh.

    Underneath…..

    To the side…..

    The number of volunteers on site helped give a friendly atmosphere to the arrangement, there were a number of families with excited children (well, and some less excited, but let’s dwell on the positives) and other interested spectators. I read some reviews and most people are positive, although there are a few sneering about the presence of a dinosaur and its presence in the nave. Personally, I thought some of the complaints were a little ridiculous, it’s not as though the cathedral has got its head sticking out of the roof or something. Engagement with new audiences is perhaps far more important.

    It’s apparent just how big the cathedral nave is here as Dippy looked quite small when standing back a little. I’m impressed at how well the cathedral authorities have handled this, also providing another visitor route for those who really just wanted to see the building and not the dinosaur. Everything co-exists in harmony, which is just what I’m sure the cathedral hoped would happen.